Mokhtar Belmokhtar

Mokhtar Belmokhtar (1 June 1972-), also known as Khaled Abou El Abbas, was the leader of the al-Mourabitun Islamic terrorist group and a former comander of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

Biography
Mokhtar Belmokhtar was born on 1 June 1972 in Ghardaia, Algeria. He traveled to Afghanistan in 1991 to fight against the pro-Soviet Union Democratic Republic of Afghanistan alongside the Mujahideen, and he lost his left eye while mishandling some explosives. When he returned to Algeria, he joined the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria and fought against the government in the Algerian Civil War. Belmokhtar rose to become a commander of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, but in December 2012 he was ejected from the organization during the Malian Civil War by the leader Abu Musab Abdel Wadoud for "fractious behavior". He came to command the al-Mourabitun unit and was responsible for the In Amenas hostage crisis of 16 January 2013, which left at least 37 hostages, a security guard, and 29 militants dead. He justified the attack as revenge for Operation Cerval, France's involvement in the war against the terrorists as an ally of the government of Mali. On 25 February 2013 he was believed dead in a battle with the French Army and Chadian Army in northern Mali at Abou Zeid, although on 23 May 2013 he claimed responsibility for two bombings.